Jharkhand offers job, flat to Bihar doctor after naqab row

Jharkhand health minister Irfan Ansari on Saturday said he has offered a job with Rs 3 lakh monthly salary, a government flat and desired posting to a woman doctor from Bihar following the naqab controversy during distribution of appointment letters.

Ansari alleged that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar tried to demean naqab and the Muslim community by removing the veil of a woman.

"I have invited the woman doctor to Jharkhand and offered her a job with Rs 3 lakh monthly salary, a flat, desired posting and full security," he told reporters in Jamtara.

"The way a doctor and a woman was humiliated and treated with indecency by pulling her naqab is not merely an attack on one individual but a direct assault on human dignity, honour and the Constitution itself," he said.

The incident, a video clip of which has been circulated widely and sparked a major political row, took place on Monday at the chief minister's secretariat in Patna when Ayush doctors had gathered to receive their letters of appointment. When the woman came up for her letter, Kumar saw her naqab, said "what is this?", and then removed the veil.

Meanwhile, a social worker filed a police complaint against Kumar over the incident, an officer said on Saturday.

Mohammad Murtaza Alam, along with some villagers, submitted the complaint with Itki police station on Thursday, he said.

Manish Kumar, officer-in-charge of Itki police station, told PTI that the complaint was filed on the basis of a video purportedly showing Kumar pulling off the naqab of the woman doctor.

In Patna, the principal of a government hospital said that the doctor is yet to join duty.

Today is the last day of her joining, but the government may consider extending the date as a special case, Government Tibbi College & Hospital Principal Mahfoozur Rahman said.

"Ayush doctor Nusrat Praveen has not joined yet, and there is no update on her future course of action," Rahman said.

"Nusrat's family said that they want to escape media coverage, and that the woman doctor will rethink whether to join or not," he added.

The incident, a video clip of which has been circulated widely and sparked a major political row, took place on Monday at the chief minister's secretariat in Patna when Ayush doctors had gathered to receive their letters of appointment.

When the woman came up for her letter, Kumar saw her naqab, said "what is this?", and then removed the veil.